4/2019 Listening to the audio version, which has a full cast, most of which is awesome but a few small voices aren't working for me.
This book is weird, and I'm always iffy about Neil Gaiman to begin with, so so far I'm neither scared nor gripped (as the blurb promises), I'm mostly confused and somewhat bored. The main character seems to have zero personality so far? And rolls so much with the punches that he is unbelievable. He's finally starting to question what is going on around him and yet he's getting no answers.

I have mixed feelings about American Gods. I think my main feeling was disappointment, but I’m not certain of this.

American Gods is based around a fascinating concept; that the heroes and villains of religion and mythology walk among us as cultural/social human constructs. Gaiman uses this idea to explore the melting pot that is the population of America, focusing on cultures, religions and ethnicities that may often be overlooked.

However, I felt that Gaiman’s writing and pacing often let down this concept, as it was either confusing or utterly boring for long chunks. Whilst I’m sure there are deep thematic reasons for focusing on long sections of driving or characters earing/sleeping/washing habits, it was dull to read. Frankly, the plot of this book was solid, but woe-fully under described, and only towards the last 150 pages of the book consecutive plot points seemed to take place. This was also an issue due to Gaiman’s writing, as his use of long, confusingly ordered run on sentences made the book hard to follow at times. Again, I’m sure many aspects of these long descriptions were in service of the themes of the book, but what’s the point in deep themes for a non-existent story?

Another issue I had were the characters, as none of them felt human. Obviously, the Gods themselves are expected to be abnormal and confusing, but the human characters oddly felt more alien than the gods. The reactions of human characters felt stiff and robotic most of the time, and not how (I feel) people should react. This made it hard for me to relate to anyone for at least half of the book, until Shadow’s character started to grow on me. That being said, one character comments on Shadow’s apparent lack of emotion (phrased as being alive) which, intentional or not, felt like an unfunny joke for the audience. This also applies to Shadow’s wife, Laura, who I found hard to sympathize with at all, and Sam, who kinda did nothing but rant about literally nothing for 2 pages. This book honestly felt like it needs a lot of editing.

That being said, there was a lot to love here. As said, the concept is brilliant, and the world Gaiman creates is fascinating. He expertly leaves the audience wanting more back story, explanation and information about all the characters and concepts at play, which would be enough for a multitude of short stories. My favorite sections were the ‘Coming to America’ ones, which focused on narratives of various people of various nations coming to America. These served to explain how certain Gods came to America, due to the migration of their believers. These were excellently written and paced, and have made me want to read Gaiman’s short story collections.

As well, the part of the plot and Gaiman’s writing that worked, really did work. That’s what makes American Gods so disappointing to me. There’s so much brilliance here that’s hid under layers of dull writing. Maybe in parallel to the Gods themselves who have lost their identities and powers in a world that has forgotten them. But this ultimately leads to a mostly uninteresting read. Gaiman held my attention enough to warrant my finishing the novel, but if not for the critical acclaim, awards and recent TV show singing its praises, I’m not sure I would have bothered.

After some online research, perhaps a deeper understanding of the book’s themes, meanings and messages will have sold me more on the novel, and label this review as me ‘not getting it’. But despite all it’s brilliance and great concepts, I’m happy I can go on a read something else.